OBJECTIVE: To determine incidence and patient characteristics of women with uterine rupture during singleton births at term without a previous caesarean delivery.

STUDY DESIGN: Population based cohort study. Women with term singleton birth, no record of previous caesarean delivery and planned vaginal delivery (n=611,803) were identified in the Danish Medical Birth Registry (1997-2008). Medical records from women recorded with uterine rupture during labour were reviewed to ascertain events of complete uterine rupture. Relative Risk (RR) and adjusted Relative Risk Ratio (aRR) of complete uterine rupture with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were ascertained according to characteristics of the women and of the delivery.

CONCLUSION: Although uterine rupture is rare, its association with epidural analgesia and augmentation of labour with oxytocin in multipara should be considered. Thus, vigilance should be exercised when labour is obstructed and there is need for epidural analgesia and/or augmentation by oxytocin in multiparous women. Due to the rare occurrence of uterine rupture caution should be exerted when interpreting the findings of this study.